“Tom’s been working at it and improving but I don’t know if he’ll ever get to the point where he can play again,” McPhee told reporters Tuesday. “As I said in the summer, we weren’t counting on it.”

Poti’s groin troubles have to give the Capitals pause, thanks to Mike Green‘s poor groin health .Green’s groin injury kept him out of action for a fair share of time this season and was initially labeled as being “significant” when it occurred. He’s now out indefinitely after undergoing sports hernia surgery.

For what it’s worth, Poti is under contract with the Caps through the 2012-2013 season with a cap hit of $2.875 million. That’s a lot of cap space not being put to good use.